Method of securing together a stack of roofing shingles

ABSTRACT

An improved automatic nailing apparatus having means for feeding a length of wire, bending the wire to form an L-shaped nail, severing the nail thus formed from the remaining length of wire, and driving the nail into an object to be nailed, such object being for example a bundle of roofing shingles to be bound together.

United States Patent 11 1 11-11 3,815,212 Breckenfelder June 11, 1974 METHOD OF SECURING TOGETHER A 693,686 2/1902 Casgrain 227/88 STACK 0F ROOFING SHINGLES 1503,77? 8/1924 1,829,796 11/193] [76] Inventor: Ernst G. Breckenfelder, 2020 Estes 2,171,383 8/1939 Ave., Elk Grove Village, Elmhurst, 2,271,470 H1942 lll. 60007 2,392,159 l/l946 2,420,660 5 1947 [22] Filed: Mar. 16, 1973 3 042 93 7119 2 [211 Appl. No.2 341,970

. Primary ExaminerCharl1e T. Moon Related Apphcauo Data Attorney, Agent, or FirmGary, .luettner, Pigott & [62] Division of Ser. No. 167,727, July 30, 1971, Pat. No. C ni 52 us. 01. 29/4321, 29/526, 206/46 BK [571; S Q 51 Int. Cl B23p 11/06 An Improved auwmatw nallmg apparatus havmg [58] Field 61 Search 29/4322, 432.1, 526, 432; means for feeding a length of wire, bending the wire to 227 35 37 20 4 53 2 form an L-shaped nail, severing the nail thus formed from the remaining length of wire, and driving the nail [5 References Cited into an object to be nailed, such object being for ex- UNITED STATES PATENTS ample a bundle of roofing shingles to be bound to- 545,4l9 8/1895 Stellmann 227/85 X gether' 566,359 8/1896 Weeks et al. 227/85 X 4 Claims, 12 Drawing Figures PATENTEUJUH 1 1 i974 SHEET 3 BF 4 wemmm 11 mm 3.8 1 5; 2 1 2 SHEET H BF 4 METHOD OF SECURING TOGETHER ASTACK OF ROOFING SHINGLES This is a division of application Ser. No. 167,727, filed July 30, 1971, now US. Pat. No. 3,735,909.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The improved nailing apparatus of the present invention was designed for the automatic nailing of a bundle of roofing shingles. The usual practice in the industry is to form a group of roofing shingles for purposes of shipping and handling thereof, and normally such a group is bound together by wrapping the same in paper which is then glued so as to provide a wrapped bundle of shingles. Another known technique is to tie a stack of shingles with wire. In accordance with the present invention such a group of shingles is nailed together thereby eliminating the need for applying a wrapping to the shingles or tying the same with wire or the like.

The apparatus of the present invention is supplied with wire from a reel, and it includes means for advancing the wire intermittently after each nailing operation.-

The leading end of the length of wire is bent into an L- shaped nail and is then severed from the remaining length of wire, after which the nail thus formed is driven into a bundle of shingles to bind the same together. When the shingles are to be used, the nails are removed so that the shingles may be separated, and it will be understood that the nails are located in areas which are overlapped by adjacent shingles when applied to a roof so that none of the nail holes are exposed.

The nailing apparatus of the present invention is thus particularly advantageous in the nailing of roofing shingles, but it is by no means limited to such use and embodies improved features useful in many other nailing applications.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provideimproved nailing apparatus which forms individual nail members from a continuous length of wire and drives such nails into an object to be nailed.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front elevational view showing an application of the present invention to nail together a stack of roofing shingles, there being shown three nailing machines disposed above the stack and three below the stack so as to permit simultaneous driving of three nails into the top of a stack of roofing shingles and three nails into the bottom thereof;

FIG. 2 is a side elevationalview of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a bundle of roofing shingles which have been nailed together in accordance with the present invention, there being shown three nails in the top of the bundle and three nails in the bottom thereof;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line 4-4 of FIG. 1 showing a nailing apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially along the line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

along the line 66 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line 77 of FIG. 4;-

FIG. 8 and 9 are vertical sectional views similar to FIG. 4 showing different positions of the various movable components of the apparatus;

FIG. 10 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line 10-10 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view taken substantially along the line 11-11 of FIG. 9', and

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary horizontal section taken substantially along the line 12-12 of FIG. 8.

Now, in order to acquaint those skilled in the art with the manner of making and using my invention, I shall describe, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, a preferred embodiment of my invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in FIGS. 1 and '2 a frame structure indicated generally at 20 which mounts three upper nailing machines 22a, 22b and 220 and three lower-nailing machines 22d, 22e and 22f, if being understood of course that the present invention is not limited with respect to the precise number of machines utilized in a given system. Lift mechanism is also indicated generally at 24 for supporting a stack of roofing shingles S and for raising and lowering the same to and from a position where the stack S can be I operated upon simultaneously by the aforementioned nailing machines 22.

Each of the nailing-machines 22 has associated there with a reel 26 (see FIG. 2) for supplying a continuous length of wire W to the machine, and as will be de scribed more fully hereinafter the nailin'g machine forms individual nails from the wire and drives one such nail during each operation of the machine. FIG. 3 shows the bundle of roofing shingles S having three L-shaped nails 28 driven into the top of the bundle and three such nails driven into the bottom thereof. It should be understood that the nailing machine 22 of the present invention may be used independently of other such machines and the ganging of several machines as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 is by way of exam ple only. FIG. 4 comprises an enlarged view of one of the nailing machines 22, and there is shown generally at 30 feeding mechanism for feeding a continuous length of wire W from a reel (not shown) to the left as viewed in the drawing. The feed mechanism 30, which will now be described in conjunction with FIGS. 4,and 7, in-

cludes an air cylinder 32 which actuates a vertically movable piston rod 34. The piston rod 34 has a lower wise direction as viewed in FIG. 4 and the clutch 46 is operative to rotate the drive shaft 40, whereas upon the downward stroke of the piston rod 34 the pinion 38 rotates independently of the shaft 40 which remains stationary.

for rotation therewith, and the feed gear has welded thereto a feed wheel 50 having a circular flange which is concentric relative to the shaft 40. A second shaft 52 is fixedly mounted in the frame members 42 and 44 so as to be disposed beneathdrive shaft 40, and an idler feed gear 54 is rotatably mounted on one end of the shaft 52 so as to mesh with the feed gear 48. The idler feed gear 54 has welded thereon an idlerfeed wheel 56 having a circumferential groove 58 which receives the flange on the feed wheel 50.

The idler feed gear 54 is freely rotatable on the fixed shaft 52 and is driven by the upper feed gear 48 during the upward stroke of the piston rod 34. The hub 60 of the idler gear 54 is eccentric relative to the shaft 52, and the idler feed wheel 56 is mounted on the hub 60 so as to rotate in an eccentric manner whereby during a portion of each revolution of the idler feed wheel 56 the latter moves upwardly to pinch the length of wire W which is positioned in the groove 58 immediately beneath the flange 50, thereby advancing the wire W to the left as viewed in FIG. 4. During the remaining portion of each revolution of the feed wheel 56 the space between the flange 50 and the bottom of the groove 58 is sufficientto allow the wire W to be freely passed therethrough, as for example when the wire is initially threaded through the feed mechanism.

It will thusbe understood that the length of wire W is threaded through the space defined between the circular flange on the feed wheel 50 and the groove 58 in theidler feed wheel 56, and during the upward stroke of the piston rod 34 such wire is advanced to the left as viewed in FIG. 4 by a predetermined amount which corresponds approximately to the length of wire required for the formation of a single nail member. The normal position of the wire prior to a nailing operation is shown in FIG. 4 with the free end of the wire projecting to the left through thenailing mechanism and somewhat beyond the same.

The mechanism for forming a nail from the wire W and driving the same will now be described. FIG. 4 shows an aircylinder 62 for actuating the nail forming and driving apparatus, there beingprovided a vertically movable piston rod 64 which is connected at 65 directly to the upper end of a vertically slidable drive bar 66. The drive bar 66 slides vertically in a fixed guide frame 68 between an uppermost position as shown in FIG. 4 and a lowermost position as shown in FIG. 9. A vertically slidable bending bar 70 is disposed immediately to the left of the drive bar 66 as viewed in FIG. 4, and the bending bar is actuated by the drive bar 66 in a manner to be described hereinbelow between an upper position as shown in FIG. 4 and a lower position as shown in FIG. 9.

A swivel hook 72 is pivotally carried on the bending bar 70 by a pivot pin 74, the hook being movable be tween a counter-clockwise position as shown in FIG. 4 and a clockwise position as shown in FIG. 9. An arm 76 projects from the back of the hook for cooperation with an upper stud 78 and a lower stud 80 both of which are fixed tea-stationary frame 82. Thus, when the bending bar 70 is moved to its upper position as shown in FIG. 4, the arm 76 engages the upper stud 78 causing the hook 72 to be pivoted to its counterclockwise position, and when the bending bar is moved to its lower position as shown in FIG. 9 the arm 76 ento its clockwise position. Spring-loaded ball detent mechanism 84 is provided in the bending bar 70 .as shown in FIG. 1 1 for yieldably maintaining the hook 72 in the position to which it is moved by a given one of the studs 78 and 80. The drive bar 66 carries an upper stud 86 and a lower stud 88 which cooperate with the hook 72 for raising and lowering the bending bar 70 at the proper time during a mailing operation.

As-shown in FIG. 4, the wire W passes to the left through a small opening in a fixed die block 90 and then passes through a slot 91 formed in an anvil plate member 92. As shownin FIG. 6, the anvil plate 92 is pivotally mounted to a stationary frame portion of the apparatus by a pin 94, and the plate 92 is biased to its clockwise position as shown in FIG. 6 by means of a tension spring 96. After the wire W passes through the slot 91 in the'anvil plate 92, it passes immediately beneath the lower end of the bending bar 70 as shown in FIG. 4 and then to the left somewhat beyond the foregoing mechanism. The bending of the wire W is accomplished during the initial portion of the downstroke of v the piston rod 64 in a manner to be described hereinbegages the lower stud 80 causing the hook to be pivoted low.

As the piston rod 64 is moved downwardly, with the various components being in the positions shown in FIG. 4, the drive bar 66 is moved downwardly and the latter in turn acts through the stud 88 and hook 72 to move the bending bar in a downward direction. The bending bar 70 thus engages the wire W and bends the outer free end thereof downwardly into a vertical position as shown in FIG. 8, it being understood that the bottom of the slot 91 in the plate 92 (see FIG. 6) acts as an anvil during the bending operation. It is also important to note that the bending bar 70 has a vertical slot98 formed therein in alignment with the wire W so that as shown in FIG. 12 the vertical portion of the wire W is received within the vertical slot 98 and is trapped and held therein by the bending cam 92 which lies immediately adjacent thebending bar 70 and overlies the slot 98.

As the bending bar'70 approaches the lower end of its stroke as shown in FIG. 8, the arm 76 on the hook 72 engages the fixed stud causing the hook 72 to be pivoted to its clockwise position whereby the drive bar 66 becomes disengaged'from the bending bar 70. Thus, the bending bar 70 is moved to its lowermost position as shown in FIG. 9 and thereafter the drive bar 66 continues its downward stroke. During the latter independent movement of the drive bar 66 it moves approximately from the position shown in FIG. 8 to the position shown in FIG. 9. It will be seen that as the drive bar 66 moves downwardlyfrom the position shown in FIG. 8, the lower end 100 thereof engages the wire W and shears off the same at the face of the die block member 90. The severed portion of the wire W comprises a generally L-shaped nail 28 which is then driven downwardly into a member to be nailed by the continued downward movement of the drive bar 66.

The drive bar 66 includes a small vertical rib 102 (see FIG. 11) which is accommodated within the vertical slot 98 in the bending bar 70. Thus, the downward driving force on the nail 28 is applied primarily by the vertical rib 102 on the drive bar 66 as the rib moves down within the vertical slot 98 in which the vertical portion of the nail is trapped by the anvil plate 92. As can be seen from FIGS. 6 and 10, the lower end 100 of the drive bar 66 engages the anvil plate 92 and cams the same out of the path of the drive bar as the latter moves through its downward stroke.

As described above, the wire W is located in the slot 91 of the plate 92 during the bending of the wire, but prior to the shearing of the wire by the drive bar 66 the latter first engages an upper cam surface 104 on the plate 92 (see FIG. 6) causing the plate to pivot away from the wire thereby disengaging the horizontal portion of the wire from the slot 91. Thereafter, as the drive bar 66 severs the wire to form an individual nail 28 and proceeds'to drive the nail downwardly, the drive bar engages a lower cam surface 106 whereby the anvil plate 92 is gradually moved to the position shown in FIG. as the drive bar 66 moves downwardly to its lowermost position as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10.

It will thus be understood that the anvil plate 92 traps the vertical portion of the nail 28 within the vertical groove 98 so as to provide firm guidance and support for the nail during the driving thereof into a bundle of shingles or the like, and the plate 92 is cammed gradually away from the groove 98 as the nail is driven downwardly with the result that the portion of the nail which remains to be driven is firmly supported at all times during the driving operation.

FIG. 9 shows a stack of shingles S positioned beneath the nailer apparatus, and in the drawing the drive bar 66 is shown in its lowermost position after having driven an L-shaped nail 28 downwardly into the stack S. It will be seen that the nailing apparatus includes a generally horizontal spring plate 108 having one end which is fixed and a free end which is positioned immediately beneath the drive bar 66. Consequently, as an L-shaped nail 28 is driven downwardly into a stack of Shingles S, the upper horizontal portion of the nail overlies the extreme end of the spring arm 108. In this manner the arm 108 prevents the horizontal portion of the nail from being driven too deeplyinto the top shingle, thereby facilitating subsequent removal of the nail after the shingles have been delivered to a job site. Since only a relatively small portion of the spring arm 108 is trapped beneath the nail, the arm will readily pull out from the nail when the stack of shingles S is lowered and removed.

After the drive bar 66 has reached the position of FIG. 9, the air cylinder 62 is actuated to raise the piston rod 64 and thereby raise the drive bar. As the drive bar 66 moves upwardly, the upper stud 86 will engage the hook 72 and thereby effect return of the bending bar 70 to its upper position, and of course the raising of the drive bar 66' will also permit the anvil plate 92 to return to its original position under the influence of the tension spring 96. When the bending bar 70 reaches its upper position as shown in FIG. 4, the arm 76 on the hook 72 will engage the upper fixed stud 78 thereby returning the hook 72 to its counter-clockwise position in preparation for the next nailing operation. In addition, upon raising of the piston rod 64 to its upper position, a projecting pin 110 carried at the lower end of the latter (see FIGS. 6 and 9) will be raised into engagement with a pivotally mounted lever 112 thereby actuating a valve control 114 which in turn supplies air to the firstmentioned feed cylinder 32 to raise the piston rod 34 and thereby actuate the wire feed mechanism 30 in preparation for the next nailing operation.

It will now be understood that when the nailer apparatus is actuated, both piston rods 34 and 64 are moved downwardly at the same time. The downward movement of the rod 34 performs no function due to the one-way clutch 46, whereas the downward movement of the rod 64 causes the formation and driving of a nail 28. Thereafter, air is conducted to the cylinder 62 to first raise the rod 64 and condition the associated mechanism for advance of the wire W, and as mentioned above the cylinder 32 is actuated thereafter in order to raise the rod 34 and cause the wire W to be advanced a predetermined amount.

It will be understood with reference to FIG. 3 that in accordance with the method of the present invention a stack or bundle of shingles is secured together by driving at least one nail or fastener into the stack from the top-thereof and driving at least one nail or fastener into the bottom of the stack. -In accordance with one embodiment the nail which is driven into the top of a stack and the nail which is driven into the bottom of the stack will each be caused to penetrate more than one-half of the thickness of the stack as illustrated in FIG. 3. On the other hand, it will be understood that the important concept is that the nail or fastener driven from the top and the nail or fastener driven from the bottom overlap one another. Consequently, in certain applications where one of the nails or fasteners is caused to penetrate substantially more than one-half of the stack, the oppositely disposed nail or fastener may penetrate less than one-half of the thickness of the stack and still overlap the first mentioned fastener in accordance with the invention herein described. It is preferred, however, that neither of the two nails or fasteners penetrate completely through the thickness of the stock.

Terms such as horizontal,vertical," upwardly, downwardly and other directional terms asused herein and in the appended claims are relative only and are based on the assumption that the nailing apparatus is positioned to drive a nail downwardly into an object although in fact the orientation of the nailing apparatus is optional and the invention is inno way limited inthis respect. In addition, it will be understood that terms such as nail and nailing are used herein in a broad sense and it would obviously be equally proper to refer to the apparatus of the present invention as a fastening machine which drives a fastener into a stack of shingles or the like.

I claim:

1. A method of securing together a stack of roofing shingles for shipping and handling thereof so as to elim-- inate the need for wrapping or tieing such shingles comprising the steps of driving at least one nail into said stack from the top thereof, driving at least one nail into the bottom of said stack, and controlling the depth of penetration of said two nails so that the ends thereof overlap one another thereby securing said stack.

2. A method of securing together a stack of roofing shingles for shipping and handling thereof so as to eliminate the need for wrapping or tieing such shingles comprising the steps of bending a length of wire into an L-shaped nail having a relatively long longitudinal portion and a relatively short transverse portion, driving said L-shaped nail into said stack from the top thereof, so that said longitudinal portion penetrates into said stack and said transverse portion overlies the top of said stack, repeating the foregoing operation by driving an L-shaped nail into the bottom of said stack, and controlling the depth of penetration of said two nails so that the ends thereof overlap one another thereby securing said stack.

7 3. A method of securing together a stack of roofing shingles for shipping and handling thereof so as to eliminate the need for wrapping or tieing such shingles comprising the steps of feeding a continuous length of wire along a horizontal path over a stack-of shingles to be secured, supporting a small horizontal portion of said wire in a horizontal position while bending the outermost free end of said wire downwardly to form an L- shaped nail having a relatively long longitudinal portion and a relatively short transverse portion, severing said L-shaped nail from the remaining length of wire, driving said L-shaped nail downwardly into said stack from 32 3 I I imirro STATES PATENT OFFICE iIERllIFlCA'lE @F CORRECTION Patent No. 212 Dated J 1974 Inventofls) Ernst G. Bre ckenfelder It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patentand that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

On the title page, the assignee should appear as UIP Engineered Products Corporation, Elk Grove Village, Illinois, a corporation of the State of Illinois Signed and sealed this 24th day of September 1974.

(SEAL) Attest: MCCOY M. GIBSON JR., 0, MARSHALL DANN Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

1. A method of securing together a stack of roofing shingles for shipping and handling thereof so as to eliminate the need for wrapping or tieing such shingles comprising the steps of driving at least one nail into said stack from the top thereof, driving at least one nail into the bottom of said stack, and controlling the depth of penetration of said two nails so that the ends thereof overlap one another thereby securing said stack.
 2. A method of securing together a stack of roofing shingles for shipping and handling thereof so as to eliminate the need for wrapping or tieing such shingles comprising the steps of bending a length of wire into an L-shaped nail having a relatively long longitudinal portion and a relatively short transverse portion, driving said L-shaped nail into said stack from the top thereof, so that said longitudinal portion penetrates into said stack and said transverse portion overlies the top of said stack, repeating the foregoing operation by driving an L-shaped nail into the bottom of said stack, and controlling the depth of penetration of said two nails so that the ends thereof overlap one another thereby securing said stack.
 3. A method of securing together a stack of roofing shingles for shipping and handling thereof so as to eliminate the need for wrapping or tieing such shingles comprising the steps of feeding a continuous length of wire along a horizontal path over a stack of shingles to be secured, supporting a small horizontal portion of said wire in a horizontal position while bending the outermost free end of said wire downwardly to form an L-shaped nail having a relatively long longitudinal portion and a relatively short transverse portion, severing said L-shaped nail from the remaining length of wire, driving said L-shaped nail downwardly into said stack from the top thereof so that said longitudinal portion penetrates into said stack and said transverse portion overlies the top of said stack, repeating the foregoing operation by driving an L-shaped nail into the bottom of said stack, and controlling the depth of penetration of said two nails so that the ends thereof overlap one another thereby securing said stack.
 4. A method as defined in claim 3 including the step of guiding said longitudinal portion of said nail during the driving thereof. 